Narrow escape in NC: "A store clerk said Monday night that she reached for her own gun after a man with a gun tried to rob her Monday in Burke County. Bonnie Christie said the man walked into the store and pulled a gun on her. Christie said whenthe man's gun jammed, she reached for her loaded gun under the counter. "I said, 'well, if you're gonna shoot me, I can shoot you'" Christie said. The robber ran out the front door. Christie copied down the tag number of the getaway car and called the Burke County Sheriff's Office. Deputies traced the license tag to a home in Marion. McDowell County sheriff's deputies then helped arrest Thomas Mauk and Christopher Cannon. "People think you make a lot of money at a job like this, but you make a living and that's about it," said Christie. Mauk and Cannon were in the Burke County Jail Monday night under a $75,000 bond".


Lovely wife: "A former NSW police officer has been jailed for at least 18 months for possessing illegal firearms, capsicum spray, police uniforms and other police equipment. Steven Lenard Williams, 43, pleaded guilty to 11 charges, including possessing prohibited weapons and police paraphernalia. NSW District Court Judge Mark Marien today sentenced Williams, from St Ives on Sydney's North Shore, to a maximum of three years' jail with an 18-month non-parole period. The court was told Williams was an officer in the NSW police service from 1999 to 2003, and was a member of the Australian Army Reserve and trained Australian army cadets. Judge Marien said that, although Williams had no criminal history and was not involved in the illegal trafficking of firearms, his conduct endangered the community. "It is a contraction in the extreme that the offender, who is so highly regarded in his service to the community ... could engage in such serious criminal conduct which potentially places the very safety of the community in jeopardy," he told the court. Williams had kept some of the firearms and police equipment after he resigned from the police force, the court was told. Williams's wife alerted police to the weapons and equipment. Williams will be eligible for parole in December 2006".


A lesson from experience: "I, too, wish to keep guns away from kids and stop the senseless killings that occur, but I advocate a loaded gun for protection from home invasion or other life-threatening circumstances. I speak from experience. One fateful night there was a crash in front of our house. I thought they had hit my car and went out to assess the damage. The driver was attempting to drive away, and I stopped him. His girlfriend suggested he hit me, and when he got out of his car, I ran into my house. Then I heard others say, ''No, don't do it!" and realized he had a weapon. I managed to keep him from entering, but he broke a window and shot me in the leg. If I'd had access to a gun, I could've let him enter and then had a legal right to shoot him. I vowed to never allow this to happen again, so now my guns are loaded and locked in my bedroom. Once the bad guys realize their lives are threatened, crime will decrease."